Nintendo opens registrations for Mario Kart Tour closed beta on Android

By Aaron Mamiit April 27, 2019

Mario Kart Tour, which will bring the beloved Nintendo racing franchise to mobile, has opened registrations for its closed beta.

Mario Kart fans who would be interested in joining the closed beta testing may sign up through the QR code on the game’s official website. Sending in an application does not guarantee a spot in the closed beta test, as there are only a limited number of slots. As the number of applications will likely exceed the number of possible participants, Nintendo will be randomly selecting who will get the first peek at Mario Kart Tour.

The application period runs until May 7, while the beta test will last for two weeks from May 22 to June 4. The program is only open to the U.S. and Japan, and applicants should have their Nintendo Account linked to a Gmail account.

The game will also be released for iOS, but unfortunately, only Android device owners will be able to join the closed beta. It is unclear, but unlikely, that iOS device owners will be able to join a closed beta for Mario Kart Tour before it is launched.

Mario Kart Tour was first announced in January last year, and was expected to be released before March this year. The game has been delayed to this summer, but aside from this information, Nintendo has been very secretive about the project. No screenshots have been revealed for the game, nor details about its mechanics.

A report from last year claimed that Mario Kart Tour, like Super Mario Run, will be a “free-to-start” game. Super Mario Run was a free download, but players had to pay $10 after the first world to continue. Mario Kart Tour may follow the same model of allowing players to race on a limited number of tracks, with everything else unlocked after a fee.

Mario Kart Tour is scheduled to launch at the same time as Dr. Mario World, another mobile game by Nintendo. Similar to Mario Kart Tour, Nintendo has not released any screenshots or gameplay details for the free-to-play puzzle game, though fans of the Dr. Mario franchise are expecting the same core gameplay found on the 1990 NES Classic and all its successors.

Topics

Contributor

Aaron received a NES and a copy of Super Mario Bros. for Christmas when he was 4 years old, and he has been fascinated with…

Gaming

8 classic courses we want to see in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe’s final DLC wave

Mario, Link, Isabelle, and a Squid Kid race down the track in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe for the Nintendo Switch.

Mario Kart 8’s decade-long life cycle is finally coming to an end. On June 12, Nintendo will drop the penultimate wave of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe’s Booster Course Pass DLC, adding another handful of retro courses to the already-loaded racing game. It’ll follow that up with one final update later this year, capping off a long post-launch cycle for one of the finest multiplayer games ever made.

While we wait to hear what Wave 6 will bring, Mario Kart fans are left with one final debate: Which classic tracks deserve the final few spots? There are only eight more courses coming, but there are still plenty of great tracks from the franchise’s long history that are worthy of a modern remake. From a SNES classic to one of the best iterations of Rainbow Road, we put together our own wish list of courses we’d like to see make the cut before Mario Kart 8 Deluxe’s grand finale later this year.
Ghost Valley (Super Mario Kart)
Super Mario Kart - Ghost Valley 1

Gaming

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe’s next booster pass brings Wii and GameCube nostalgia next week

mario kart 8 deluxe booster wave 5 tracks characters

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe's next big update, Booster Course Pass: Wave 5, launches on July 12. Nintendo shared a new trailer for the DLC showing off its eight tracks, which includes a few classics from Mario Kart Wii, Double Dash, and more.

Wave 5 of the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – Booster Course Pass launches July 12th!

Gaming

Mario Kart Tour microtransactions land Nintendo in legal trouble

mario kart tour launch day record nintendo mobile

Nintendo is facing a new lawsuit over its previous implementation of microtransactions in the mobile game Mario Kart Tour.
Mario Kart Tour first launched on iOS and Android in 2019 and used to have a loot box-like system where players could spend real money to activate Spotlight Pipes, which had undisclosed odds of granting players useful items and upgrades. Nintendo removed Spotlight Pipes from Mario Kart Tour in a September 2022 update, but Axios reports that a new class-action lawsuit has been filed against Nintendo over its previous implementation of them in the game.
The suit calls the mobile game's microtransactions "immoral" and is based on the belief that the game was intentionally difficult to progress in without spending money. Its plaintiff believes this "capitalized on and encouraged addictive behaviors akin to gambling" in all players, specifically the minors that'd be interested in trying a Mario Kart game on mobile, with them having spent $170 on those microtransactions. As such, it suit is demanding Nintendo issue refunds to all minors who spent money on Spotlight Pipes when they were available in Mario Kart Tour.
The loot box-like style of microtransactions that used to be present in Mario Kart Tour was fairly common in a lot of games with microtransactions. That said, it has fallen out of favor in recent years thanks to increased scrutiny from regulators and lawsuits like this that argue the undisclosed odds tied to these systems are too similar to gambling. As such, microtransactions in many recent games tend to be more direct or actively disclose what players will get once they spend money.
Nintendo seemed to be aware of this when it removed Spotlight Pipes from Mario Kart Tour last year, but that clearly wasn't enough for this plaintiff. Nintendo has not commented on this lawsuit, but it's definitely worth keeping an eye on how this plays out.